Quaff for a Cause!
Wine Over Water is August 17, 2024, on the Walnut Street Bridge! This festival is a Chattanooga favorite, not only because it offers a multitude of delicious wines and bites, but also because the money raised during this event is invested in preserving the incredible historic aspects of our city!
Chattanooga restaurants will be showcased, including local favorites like The Daily Ration (featuring Hot Chicken and Waffles) and Whitebird (bringing some delicious tortellini to the mix). Newer spots will be able to highlight their bites as well – we are particularly looking forward to trying the Pani Poori from Spice Trail, Whipped Feta on Flatbread from Civil Provisions, and Chocolate Tartes from Fifty-Fifty Wine and Martini Bar.
These snacks can fuel you on your way to the dance floor – as Wine over Water will have multiple musicians featured. This year, the artist lineup includes: Le Gato (funk-rock), Luke Simmons and the Lovestruck (rock), Magic Birds (Americana), and Waxing + Waning (indie-folk). The wine will pair perfectly with these delectable canapés and harmonious tunes – visit for the weekend to eat, imbibe, and boogie, all while supporting historic preservation in Chattanooga! Find out more on Preserve Chattanooga’s site.
Who is Preserve Chattanooga?
Many of Chattanooga’s buildings and neighborhoods were created by talented designers and craftsmen from another era. These historic places are beautiful and irreplaceable; they teach us timeless design principles and anchor us to our history. Preserve Chattanooga is the powerhouse behind the preservation of these places – an organization protecting the heritage of Chattanooga through historic conservation, education, and advocacy. They also partner with the University of Tennessee Chattanooga on a historic preservation minor program and operate a preservation resource center online.
What Do They Do?
Historic preservation is a challenging field. Historic buildings and neighborhoods are important for tourism, economic development, sustainability, and maintaining a sense of place. Most of these sites belong to private property owners, so preservation involves a complex strategy of education, advocacy, and working through local policies to keep history from being lost forever.
Preserve Chattanooga has done preservation work on many of your favorite parts of the city. They were involved in stabilizing and protecting the structure of the historic Choo Choo Dome. Designed by architect Donn Barber in the Beaux Arts style, the Terminal Station was a strong statement to the city’s emergence as an important railroad crossroads. It was the first train station in the South to open a pathway to the North by connecting with Cincinnati.
Preserve Chattanooga, which compiles lists of “endangered” properties in need of attention and care, has helped facilitate the transformation of places like the Ross Meehan Foundry (1875), one of the city’s oldest buildings, the former Industrial YMCA (1928) -a historic building designed by Chattanooga architect Clarence T. Jones, and buildings that house popular restaurants like St. John’s and Urban Stack.
What is Next?
In the fall of 2024, Preserve Chattanooga will launch some amazing Architectural Walking Tours. These tours explore the architectural history of neighborhoods like Downtown, Southside, MLK, and UTC. There will soon be a tour of the buildings that comprise the Stone Fort area, which is now occupied by government offices, hotels, and courtrooms - but have historic and stunning facades. There is also a tour where you can explore the architectural works of R.H. Hunt, one of Chattanooga's most significant early architects, responsible for many recognizable facades downtown.
